I Am Hawkmoth
by Aishoka-J
Summary: What goes on behind the scenes in Hawkmoth's lair? How does a dramatic and overly-theatrical supervillain pass the time between sending out akumas? Snippets from the daily life of a rich fashion designer turned magical supervillain and his long suffering PA.


**Chapter One: If you want something done right...**

If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. Nathalie knows this idiom all too well.

* * *

It had been a long and stressful day for Nathalie Sancoeur. Between Adrien running away to try and go to school, Gabriel throwing a temper tantrum and Hawkmoth terrorising the city, she had had enough.

Her unusually high stress levels were probably the reason why she was here, in Gabriel's private office, refusing to leave after the normal end-of-day briefing. It was temporary insanity brought on by stress. It had to be. Why else would she be in here, doing her best to convince Gabriel to let Adrien attend school?

Gabriel was predictably being stubborn though.

She tried pleading with him. She tried reasoning with him. She pointed out benefit after benefit to both Agreste men and their business. She tried cajoling, bullying, and even threatening him, but to no avail.

She sighed. Time to bring out the big guns.

"Then you leave me no choice, sir," Nathalie snapped. She waited until she had his complete attention before delivering her ultimatum. "If you don't allow Adrien to go to school as he wants then I shall report you to the police… _Hawkmoth_."

He had a good poker face but she had known him for over twenty years. She could read him perfectly. He was rattled.

"What makes you think that I am him?" Gabriel finally said.

"You mean besides the fact that you ordered three thousand white butterflies delivered to the mansion last week?"

Gabriel gave her the flattest, most deadpan stare he had ever directed at another human being. Not counting when he practised in the mirror. "The _Gabriel_ logo is a butterfly. They're for the _aesthetic_, of course."

Nathalie snorted. "Pull the other one, sir."

"My logo has been a butterfly for over a decade yet Hawkmoth has just appeared," Gabriel dismissed her argument, glaring at her over the rim of his glasses. He did that every time she showed him any disrespect but this time she didn't care. Besides, she knew she could get away with it. He waved a hand dismissively. "Mere coincidence."

"Then how about the fact that you ordered the _Greatest Comic Villains_ anthology just a few months ago?"

"A gift for Adrien."

She scoffed. "He doesn't like the villains, only the heroes."

"Then it was just happenstance and I shall have to buy him a new gift."

"Your purchase of _Theatrical Villainy for Nitwits_, _Successful Monologuing for Nitwits_, and _The Nitwits' Guide to the Perfect Lair_ at the same time?"

He seemed mildly surprised that she could recite the titles from memory. "They were part of Adrien's gift."

"With you as a father he wouldn't need and help to overpay the drama," she rolled her eyes, muttering under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, sir. You may say they were for Adrien but that doesn't explain why you hired Monsieur T. Ricky Dingo's building company on the same day."

"It was a recommendation from a business associate, I needed more storage in my office."

She laughed at that. More storage in an office that was designed to have maximum hidden storage capacity? He was certainly getting rattled if his lies were getting this bad. Time to go in for the kill. "So why did you open a design folder titled _My Supervillain Outfits_ once the books had arrived?"

"… for Adrien?"

"And of course you created the outfits to your size and not Adrien's as a trial run to see how the fabric moved?"

"...yes."

"While practicing your monologuing?" Nathalie smirked.

Gabriel groaned and slumped down in his chair. "...I left the intercom on again, didn't I?"

"Yes, sir," she leant over the desk and flipped the switch on the intercom to turn it off. It had been on since the last time he had yelled instructions at her. "You should know by now you can't keep any secrets from me."

"So you know… I am Hawkmoth." Gabriel sighed and ran a hand through his hair, a sign of his frustration that he rarely allowed to show. "Why should I trust you not to go to the police if I agree to send Adrien to school?"

Nathalie was honestly surprised he had to ask that question. "Because you will be a terrible villain and there will be no need for me to out you when your own incompetence will see to that."

"_Incompetence_?"

She rolled her eyes at his outrage. "The intercom. Every. Single. Day."

"I-"

"The fact that you always have to ask me for the password to the computer even though it is _right here_," she tapped the post-it note on his monitor screen that had his password written on under the large and glaringly obvious title of PASSWORD in bright red ink.

"I-"

"The fact that you can never find pens, pencils, or paper when the drawers are clearly marked with their contents."

Gabriel's eyes flicked down to his desk drawers that did indeed have the same bright red ink announcing their contents. "I-"

"Or how about the fact that you've been banned from driving because you ran straight into a bus."

"That bus was five minutes early! It shouldn't have been there!"

Nathalie scoffed. "You have _eyes_, Gabriel. Face it. You're a genius at designing but awful at everything else."

She had expected him to protest some more, only a token resistance, before giving in and agreeing to send Adrien to school. That would be the end of it then and this conversation would never again be spoken of. She _did not_ expect to see him crumble, pulling his glasses off and swiping at his eyes.

"You can't turn me in, Nathalie. I'm trying to bring her home."

There was no doubt whatsoever who he was referring to. Mme. Agreste. Gabriel's beloved wife, Adrien's mother… Nathalie's best friend.

"You… she…"

He nodded. "The Miraculous that the heroes possess can bring her back to us."

"I… truly?"

"Yes."

Well… that was truly astonishing.

She really had not expected him to actually have a reason behind his shift from fashion designer to supervillain. Rather, she hadn't expected him to have a reason beyond it being an _avant garde_ thing to do or some sort of experiment into edgy fashion.

But if it was for his wife…

...well, that changed everything.

It also left her with only one option to pursue from now on.

"Very well then." Nathalie took a deep breath to settle her nerves before pulling her tablet up again. "You have a free hour in the morning between your appointment with your tailor and your conference call with the board. You will brief me on _everything_ that Hawkmoth is doing and then I will take over management of the operation."

Gabriel blinked once, twice, three times, before frowning at her. "That will not be necessary."

She didn't even look up from her tablet. "Need I remind you of the time you tried to install a cat-flap in the garage door?"

"No."

"The one that ended up being big enough for the _car _to get through, never mind the cat."

"You've made your point, " Gabriel snapped. "You can manage everything "

"Very good, sir. Our appointment has been added to your schedule. Do you require anything else?"

He started to shake his head in the negative then froze. "Nathalie…?" he paused, searching for the words. "If you knew, why didn't you lead with the blackmail attempt in the first place? And why didn't you turn me in as soon as you realised?"

"Nothing you do surprises me anymore, sir. I'm used to your _artistic temperament_. Though to be honest I did expect this to be more along the lines of a marketing ploy than an effort to rescue your wife."

"I… see?"

"I'll see Adrien to school in the morning and then return for our meeting, sir."

Gabriel frowned. "I never actually agreed to send him to school."

Nathalie raised a single eyebrow at him. "Even though with him safely out of the house you would have a," she quickly tapped away on her tablet then nodded "57.62% percent better chance of succeeding with your supervillainy?"

"I…" Gabriel's jaw dropped. "Nathalie, see to the enrollment forms immediately. Make sure everything is arranged perfectly for Adrien at that school."

"I'll see to it at once, sir."

Nathalie didn't allow the smirk to cross her face until she was sat back at her desk. She had been right earlier when she said that Gabriel was awful at everything other than designing. He couldn't even tell when she was bluffing.

She picked up her tablet and closed down the random number generator she favoured until the next time she needed it to fool Gabriel. It was the best tool in her arsenal for dealing with her boss. Throw enough numbers at him and he would agree to anything.

* * *

Author's note: this chapter is not to be taken seriously at all. I had two headcanons for Nathalie, one where she knew about Gabriel and one where she didn't. Having finally started watching season two, I can see that she does know. This is just a little joke chapter while I work on some other scenes. Each chapter will have individual warnings so please read the author's notes before reading the chapter. There will be some serious chapters, some hilarious ones, and many more inbetween. Enjoy!


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